Airport fleet conversion earns award

The Mineta San Jose International Airport received the National Natural Gas Vehicle Achievement Award in recognition of its efforts to improve air quality and reduce fuel costs by converting its ground transportation fleet to CNG.  

The conversion made it possible to eliminate the use of more than 1.1 million gallons of diesel fuel, resulting in a fuel cost savings of over $2.6 million dollars since 2003, and reduced vehicle exhaust emissions by over 70 tons annually.  

The airport received $700,000 from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) in 2002 to replace 20 diesel shuttle buses with CNG-fueled shuttles. The conversion will be complete in 2008 when 14 more shuttle buses are replaced with CNG vehicles, funded by another BAAQMD grant of $700,000.